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This is me

A busy mind in many places. One of my children was asked what I did for a living. The list given includes my main occupation of farming but also goes on to school bus driver, carpentry, furniture making, developer, designer, landscaping, handyman and more. I've traveled in most states of the union (I'm missing two) and several foreign countries. My favorite vacation is a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I like to read. Favorite authors include western author Louis L'Amour, science fiction writer Anne McCaffrey and architect Sarah Susanka. I like to sing and am a bass in our local barbershop chorus. In church I also prefer the bass part. My best friend and wife, Karen, and I have 3 children who are all busy and happily building their own lives. We have twin granddaughters born in September 2011 and another granddaughter born in April 2014.

Yesterday as I walked to my shop door I heard a mewing from under the leaves. The bush had been pruned back last fall and is still low to the ground and loaded with branches and leaves. when I pushed back the branches I found this under the bush.

the kitten pile

One of our female cats had deposited her newborns there. Since every other cat we have is grey with very little in either white or black to show a difference, this little pile of cats is a delight to see. One white with just a few grey spots, one almost black with just a bit of grey and one grey one. It is a bit late in the year so I’m not too sure if this litter will survive, but I’ll give them what help I can. As long as the weather stays dry I’ll leave them be, but if we should run into some cold, wet weather I’ll move them into the nursery. Right now they just need to be left alone.

A bit later in the day I was not too pleased to see a stray tom cat hanging around. This is the same tom that was around when we lost our earlier litters. He was not a welcome sight and was sent packing with a lead chaser. May he never return. He may have been the father of this litter, but when he sired this litter he was not at all nice to the mother. I consider him pussycat non grata.